Fire: The Elementals Book One

Home > Other > Fire: The Elementals Book One > Page 27
Fire: The Elementals Book One Page 27

by Gilbert, L. B.


  The terrified woman moved her head fractionally to the side, but the change in her body temperature contradicted her despite the blood loss. Diana stood and drew Alec away from the body.

  “She’s lying.”

  “How can you be certain? She’s lost so much blood. You can’t know for sure.” He sounded angry with her.

  Diana sighed. She had hoped he would handle this kind of thing better. If he didn’t, there was no way he could find a place in her world.

  “I am sure. And if you tried to turn her, you would fail. She isn’t a candidate,” she said, acknowledging what few vampires would realize.

  Only those who could bend magic to some degree could be turned. It helped if the person doing the turning was powerful. Alec was. . .but there had to be some magical aptitude in the recipient to begin with. And seeing Brenda again only confirmed what she already knew.

  Neither Brenda nor her sister Catherine had any talent. How they were drawn into the circle’s sphere was still a mystery, but in her world, things rarely got tied up in a neat bow.

  Guilt radiated from the dying woman, but Alec was determined. “You can’t possibly be certain. I’m stronger than those who made me. I can do it. That little girl—”

  Diana cut him off. “Deserves a better mother. This one intentionally put her in harm’s way, probably more than once.”

  “But she wanted her back. When you brought her home the first time—you yourself said she wanted her back.”

  “She did. But only so she could use her again. I don’t know what the circle promised her, but it was enough to trade her little girl’s life for it.”

  “I can’t believe that,” he said finally. “A mother wouldn’t.”

  “You are not nearly cynical enough for a vampire.” Diana said in a low voice, glancing to the doorway where the Were was waiting with a resigned expression.

  “You can smell her guilt, can’t you?” she asked softly.

  “Yeah,” Dmitri said as Alec turned to him. “It’s a nasty business.”

  Diana couldn’t keep arguing. Brenda’s time was running out. “Go ahead and try. I’m sorry it won’t work. But if it makes you feel better, go ahead. Try.”

  Logan gave her a commiserating look as she moved past Dmitri back into the courtyard. Diana followed her.

  “He could succeed,” Logan suggested as they walked to the center of the courtyard.

  “No. She’s flat. There’s no anchor for the magic,” Diana said.

  “Well, that’s probably for the best. I would offer you a ride, but I’m guessing you’re going to take Katie home. Is there any other family? The father?”

  “Not that I know of. I have another idea.”

  “Care to let me in on it?” Logan asked.

  Diana hesitated. “I…uh…I thought the little boy’s father might be able to look after her,” she said, running a hand through her hair.

  Logan frowned. “Are you sure? You know they’re not exactly interchangeable.”

  Diana’s lips firmed, and Logan shrugged. She unzipped her pack and handed her the jacket she kept in there.

  “You should put that on if you’re going to take Katie. You’re still a little bloody. It doesn’t show up that much against the black, but she’ll eventually notice if you take her home with you.”

  “Oh, thanks,” Diana said, slipping on the jacket. “And I know my plan isn’t perfect. But I have a feeling about this. I think she’ll be better off.”

  “I trust your gut. And I think it’s safe to assume all of us will be looking in on Katie whenever we can,” Logan said. “By the way, I had to give your boyfriend a little shit for getting all vampy on me.”

  Diana laughed. “I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.”

  “I know. He was just a little stressed out for a minute there. Can’t really blame the guy, but you know what they say. Start as you mean to go on…and I can’t be the pushover Elemental,” Logan said, drawing herself up to her full height, all five feet two inches of it.

  “Yeah, I get that. Where are you headed?” Diana asked as they walked to the center of the courtyard, recognizing the way Logan was scanning the sky.

  “Budapest. Gotta give some fairies a little fear of the devil.”

  “All right. Go nuts. Do you think you can drop the blade with Gia or Serin?”

  Though Gia was their elder, Serin’s people were the ones that kept detailed records on anything supernatural. If an Elemental had encountered anything like the knife or the Olmec artifact, they would know.

  “Already packed it,” Logan said, gesturing to the bundle tied to her back.

  “Safe journey. And thanks for coming,” Diana said with gratitude.

  “Like I would let you have all the fun.” Logan gave her a hug before she pulled away and let the wind take her.

  From somewhere behind her, Dmitri gave a low whistle. “Is she single?”

  Diana turned around. “Yeah. But she doesn’t like Weres,” she said, taking in Dmitri’s lustful expression.

  “Does she not like Weres like you don’t like vampires?”

  Diana decided to ignore him in favor of rejoining Katie and making travel plans.

  35

  It was late, and Alec hadn’t come back to the house he’d rented for them. Katie was asleep. Telling her that they’d found her mother and that she was gone had been difficult.

  But Katie’s reaction had been telling. She had not expressed surprise or the hysterical grief that Diana had felt when her own mother had died. She had simply nodded, no tears. All she’d wanted to know was what would happen to her now.

  “Do you want me to find your dad?” Diana had asked.

  “No. He doesn’t want to be a daddy,” Katie had said, breaking Diana’s heart.

  “Then I have an idea. I know of an excellent daddy who is missing his boy a lot right now. Your friend, the one who stayed with you at the farmhouse? He can’t go home. You know about that, don’t you?”

  Katie nodded.

  “I think it would be a good thing for you to stay with his daddy, Pedro. It might be hard at first. You would have to start at a new school.”

  “Do you think he’ll want me?” Katie whispered.

  “I think he will, but if he doesn’t, I will find you another home. A good home,” Diana promised.

  “I can’t stay with you?” Katie whispered, her eyes closed.

  “I’m sorry, sweetie. What I do is very dangerous. Not as much for me but a lot for the people around me.”

  “Even Mister Alec?” Katie asked.

  “Er. Well, yes, but only a little. Alec is more like me than he is like you. He can take care of himself. He’ll be fine.”

  “Good. I like him,” the little girl said sleepily.

  “Yeah. He’s very likable,” Diana muttered. “Don’t worry about anything else tonight. Tomorrow we start looking for a new home for you. But no matter where that turns out to be, I’m going to come visit you when I can. So are my friends. You’ll like them.”

  “Are they like you, too? Do they find bad people?” Katie whispered.

  “Yes,” Diana said.

  “That’s good then. I want you to find the bad people.” Katie sighed and lay down again.

  One of Alec’s men had had the foresight to buy a few stuffed animals in case they succeeded.

  Diana had tucked them in around Katie. The little girl had chosen a stuffed lion to hug tight and sleep with. Thinking back to the lion she’d chosen to scare J straight, Diana approved of her choice.

  * * *

  Hours later, Alec still hadn’t returned. Diana knew there was next to no chance that he could have successfully turned Brenda, but he had been gone a long while. A niggling doubt entered her mind.

  Vampires as strong as Alec were rare. Though the belief that vampires grew in strength as they aged was largely true, there were some that were simply born stronger than others. He was one of those rare breed. He was also more adept at manipulating magic than any
other living vampire. If he hadn’t been, then he wouldn’t have been able to make the Daywalker ritual work.

  A door closed somewhere downstairs, and Diana felt Alec’s presence moving below. She debated going to find him, uncertain if he would come to her or not. Deciding it didn’t matter, she went downstairs.

  He was in the formal parlor, pouring himself a drink from a bar service cart. Reading the failure in his posture, she was sorry for him.

  “You know you would have been responsible for her for the rest of her afterlife. It’s better this way.”

  He looked at her beyond his glass and swallowed the entire drink down in a gulp.

  “That’s no way to savor a thirty-year-old Armagnac,” Diana chided gently.

  “It’s fifty years old,” he informed her, pouring another for himself and one for her.

  “I’m not a fan,” she said but took the glass anyway.

  The drink burned on the way down, and she screwed up her face in a scowl.

  He smiled at her, and the atmosphere in the room lightened considerably. “You should hold the glass in your hands and warm it. It enhances the flavor. Just try not to heat it so much that you boil the alcohol off.”

  “You didn’t do that,” she pointed out, directing a mild heat wave to the glass.

  “It’s a little hard for me to warm it above room temperature,” he noted wryly.

  Diana gave him a tiny smile. “It was for the best, you know.”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  “If you didn’t succeed in turning her, why were you gone so long?”

  Alec sat heavily in the padded leather armchair and stared at his glass. “I was making arrangements for the body. And for the repair of the museum. It should be set to rights before the end of the week. I wanted to fix it before the employees came back to work on Monday, but things happen slowly in France. After that, I started trying to track down the little girl’s father. He’s in jail, however, and there were no other close living relatives, so I contacted child services in Boston instead.”

  “You did what?” Diana froze in anger and shock.

  He looked at her strangely. “Did you have something else in mind? You can’t care for her. And there isn’t a good alternative among my relations.”

  When she didn’t respond, he continued, “It’s the best thing for her. They may even find someone she knows to take her in. If not, they are prepared. The system is there for such cases.”

  Diana’s blood boiled.

  She closed her eyes and set the glass on an end table. “I’m taking Katie back to Boston. But I’m not turning her over to social services. I’m taking her to Pedro. He will take good care of her.”

  Alec stood, jaw clenched. “You can’t do that. Pedro is not an appropriate choice.”

  “As opposed to turning her over to the system? Are you crazy?” Diana said, making an effort to keep her voice down despite the blood pounding in her head.

  “Pedro is not well. Not yet. Even if he has recovered enough, it’s still not a good idea. You can’t replace one child with another. That’s not how human hearts work.”

  “Says the vampire,” Diana ground out. “I know they aren’t interchangeable. But they’ve both suffered major losses. They can help each other heal. It will work. And if it doesn’t, I’ll find Katie something else. But I’m not putting her in the system!”

  “You act like it’s a fate worse than dea—,” Alec cut himself off abruptly. “Oh. I’m such an idiot. You were in the system. After your mother died.”

  It wasn’t even a question.

  The familiar rage and panic rushed, unbidden, up her chest, giving it a good squeeze. Diana turned away and took a few deep breaths before she could speak.

  “We’re leaving in the morning. Are you going to have the jet ready, or should I call the airlines now?”

  “Diana,” his voice was soft and gentle, “What happened?”

  “Are we taking the jet or not?” Her voice was strained.

  She felt his hands on her shoulders, but she shrugged them off and stalked out.

  After charging up to her room, she locked the door and went to the fireplace. Calling the fire, she built it high and hot. She sat in front of it for a long time before going to bed.

  36

  Alec’s attempts to engage Diana in conversation the next morning failed spectacularly. She avoided him by fussing over Katie whenever he got too close.

  The little girl was adorable and very shy. And she was clearly worried about what was going to happen to her.

  Katie asked a few questions about Pedro, and Alec shot Diana a disapproving look before he could stop himself, ratcheting up the tension between them. It got a hundred times worse when she overheard him on the phone, instructing his people to look into other options in vague terms the little one wouldn’t understand.

  He genuinely didn’t know what Diana was thinking, telling Katie that Pedro would take care of her. He’d called his man in Boston and was gratified to hear that Pedro was doing better. But he was still far from well.

  Alec kept his mouth shut about it, not wanting to worry the child, despite the fact he was honestly itching for a fight with Diana.

  He didn’t want to jeopardize his budding relationship with her, but he didn’t want to back down on this either. He wasn’t Diana’s equal in magic or even strength, but he had to be her equal in this. She had to value his opinion and listen to his concerns—even when she didn’t agree with him. Otherwise, he was going to be constantly compromising himself and everything he believed in.

  Not that he foresaw a lot of conflict. He knew that, for the most part, they would agree on how to get on. And he did see a future for them, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it.

  Unfortunately, he’d stepped on a land mine he hadn’t even known was there. Something awful must have happened to her in foster care. He shuddered when he thought of all the terrible things that could happen to vulnerable little girls.

  I am an asshole, he thought suddenly. He hadn’t given a second thought to calling child services. Let humans take care of their own. It was one of the few rules vampires actually followed. It was relatively easy for them since most didn’t care about anyone but themselves.

  The situation did not improve in the afternoon when they boarded the jet and flew home. For a Fire Elemental, Diana did a damn good deep freeze.

  There were no signs of thawing by the time they landed. She only gave one-word answers to his questions unless they were addressed to Katie as well. Once he’d acknowledged that he was still looking for different housing options for Katie that did not include foster care, it got marginally better. But it wasn’t enough to get back to the rapport he’d struggled to achieve with her.

  They’d landed in Boston before she spoke a full sentence to him. “I’m going to take Katie with me tonight. I will check things out with Pedro tomorrow.”

  “Please don’t take her until I’ve seen him,” he pleaded. “I need to tell him about his son first. I promised him things that are ash now.”

  “I guess I should say I’m sorry you don’t have a head to deliver, but that would be weird. And I don’t think it would have helped him.”

  He leaned in to whisper. “I disagree, but it can’t be helped. There wasn’t a better way. More to the point, this thing you propose. . .I don’t think it will help him. Or her. Pedro is better, but not well yet. He may not be able to handle the care of another person. I’m going to see him tonight.”

  He wanted to say more, but he didn’t want to get into an all-out battle with Katie watching them with those big brown eyes.

  Diana nodded curtly and took the little girl to the waiting car. Passing a hand over his eyes, Alec got in with them.

  “I think we should stay in a hotel tonight. The safe house is not a good place for a little girl to wake up in,” Diana said quietly after settling Katie inside.

  Reflecting on the number of weapons he’d seen there, he quickly agreed and dropped them off
at a hotel he owned.

  Of course, he hadn’t volunteered that last bit of information. Or the fact that that they would be closely monitored in case Diana decided to disappear after she settled Katie somewhere.

  That last was a fear he didn’t want to dwell on. Diana had opened up to him a little, but there was a lot more to her current behavior. He’d thought her reticence and distance was a result of her mother’s death but clearly that wasn’t the complete story. And there was a real possibility that she would rather write him off than share her history with him.

  Badgering her into confiding in him was not going to work. Even though he was sure he could find her again, he didn’t want to spend years chasing her around the world trying to make her accept him in her life. He’d waited so long for someone like her, even if he hadn’t known exactly what he’d been looking for. But now that he’d found her, he didn’t want to wait a second longer to hold her, to make love to her.

  It was burning him up inside. Hiding that level of arousal from her had been a challenge, even for a vampire in complete control of his blood flow.

  Alec smiled wryly to himself. He hadn’t even desired the company of a woman for decades. Maybe even the last century. He’d thought he was past those basic desires. And now he could barely contain himself. The only thing that sobered him and tamped down his hunger was the task ahead of him: telling Pedro about his son.

  He’d given bad news like it before, but it never got any easier.

  As for Diana, as much as it went against his every possessive instinct, he would give her time. And if she didn’t come to him. . .then he would try a more aggressive tactic.

  37

  The next day, Diana took Katie to meet Pedro. She left the little girl outside with one of Alec’s men while she went to speak with him.

  Alec hadn’t called her, so she could only assume that either Pedro was better or he wanted her to see for herself how impossible her idea was.

  The little man had aged considerably, and he was still a little vacant. He puttered around the apartment cleaning what was already clean and straightening out things that did not need straightening. Diana had serious misgivings, but she couldn’t shake the idea that this was the right move. And when all was said and done, she was a creature of instinct.

 

‹ Prev